Abeyta accused of wounding wife, killing neighbor

8/20/13 - 5pm - Daniel Abeyta, accused of killing one person and injuring another before he was shot by police, is due in court Wednesday.

KMGH

Daniel Abeyta in a 2008 arrest photo from the Denver Police Department.

Denver Police Department

DENVER - The mother-in-law of a Denver man jailed in a deadly shooting rampage told police that Daniel Abeyta "has threatened her family in the past with homemade bombs," according to newly released records.

The 31-year-old Abeyta is accused of shooting his wife in the legs and then shooting and killing a neighbor during the Friday morning attack on South Irving Street. Police said Abeyta also fired on at least one of two propane tanks he placed in the middle of the street in what police said was an attempt to explode the tanks as officers closed in.

A police sniper shot and critically wounded Abeyta, who was armed with a sniper rifle, a shotgun and a handgun, police said.

Abeyta remained in police custody at Denver Health Medical Center on Tuesday. He faces charges of first-degree murder, first-degree assault and unlawful possession of an explosive device, according to an arrest affidavit.

Abeyta's wife, 26-year-old Autume Estrada, called 911 at 10:50 a.m. Friday and said her husband had shot her with a shotgun at their home at 2265 S. Irving St. and he had fled out the back door with the shotgun, the affidavit said.

While still talking to a 911 call-taker, Estrada said her husband had returned and was shooting again.

An arriving police officer said he saw a man a distance away standing in front of 2265 S. Irving St. and that there woman lying on the porch of 2275 S. Irving St., who appeared to be dead. The deceased woman, later identified as Sandra Roskilly, 47, was killed by a gunshot, the Denver medical examiner said.

The officer said he saw two propane tanks in the street and he heard a rifle shot and thought the man had shot one of the tanks, the affidavit said.

A police sniper eventually shot Abeyta.

At the hospital, Estrada told a detective her husband shot her in the legs during an argument, the affidavit said.

Estrada's mother, Marie Estrada, told a detective Abyeta owns several guns that he stores in his home garage. She also said her son-in-law had threatened her family with homemade bombs in the past.

A female resident, whose name was redacted from the report, told police she looked out her window that morning and saw a male neighbor armed with two rifles and a handgun, the affidavit said. She said she watched the man fire the handgun in the direction of 2275 S. Irving St.

The female resident said she saw the man shooting a propane tank and then saw her neighbor get shot and fall to the ground, the affidavit said.

Police said they recovered the following items:

--A rifle with a scope and a tripod, a green metal ammunition box and two clear plastic bags containing a black powder, which police believed to be gunpowder, and a black pouch from a concrete pad in front of Abeyta's home.

--A shotgun on the trunk of a yellow Maserati parked in the driveway of Abeyta's home.